Search continues for 14-year-old boy swept into ocean; brother speaks out

The search resumed Friday morning for the 14-year-old boy who went missing near North Topsail Beach on Thursday.

Brothers Yunior and Mainor Perez had waded out into the water of New River Inlet and were fishing when Mainor, 14, was swept away Yunior told WRAL News.

Witnesses in the area reported that passengers in a nearby boat helped pull Mainor Perez into the boat. He made it to shore and reported that his brother had gone under.

Yunior went to lay down in the sand and later heard ‘help help help’.

By 5 p.m. on Friday, Mainor Perez, a student at Southern Wayne High School in Goldsboro, was still missing.

“He couldn’t do anything because i saw him in the boat and he tried to swim back by himself,” Yunior Perez, Brother of missing Teenager said.

North Topsail Beach Police began a search and deployed a drone.

“The person that was on the boat he rescued one of my brothers and then it took them 30-40 seconds,” Yunior said.

North Topsail Beach Fire Rescue along with surrounding agencies launched boats and the Coast Guard was on-site performing a search by helicopter and boat.

“sigh-it’s been really hard because he was the only doing favors for everybody,” Yunior said. “Doesn’t matter what.”

New River Inlet, located at the mouth of New River at the north end of Topsail Island, is known for strong currents, and signs are posted along the beach warning swimmers.

While this search/rescue was in progress, there were a total of four water rescue calls in various locations along the 12 miles of beach.

“We’re going to miss him so much. i’m not sure how we’re going to go through this,” Yunior said. “It’s really really hard.”

Rip currents and rough surf were a threat up and down the North Carolina coast through the holiday weekend.

“We’re trying to at least recover his body because we can’t just leave him there underwater,” Yunior said.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to support the search efforts.

At least 70 rip current rescues were reported on Thursday in New Hanover County – 35 at Wrightsville Beach and 35 at Carolina Beach.

On Friday, that number rose to 79 –

• 60 rescued at Wrightsville Beach
• 13 rescued at Carolina Beach,
• and 6 at Kure Beach.